16-Year-Old Boy Will Stand Murder Trial As Adult

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 16-year-old Brooklyn Park boy has been certified to stand trial as an adult, and his sealed indictment for first-degree murder in the Aug. 24 death of Rayjon Gomez was made public.

Derrick Deangelo Catchings, who was 15 at the time of the murder, will make his first appearance at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a Hennepin County court.

Bail is currently set at $2 million. Catchings has been in custody on other charges since September.

A Hennepin County Grand Jury returned the six-count indictment on March 29, but it remained sealed because Catchings is a juvenile. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office petitioned to have Catchings certified as an adult, and that petition was approved by the court late Monday.

Besides two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 13-year-old Gomez, the grand jury indicted Catchings on four other counts of attempted murder on two other unnamed boys who were near Gomez at the time.